Stillwater Harbor Development Project Denied by Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission

GEORGETOWN, Del. - The Stillwater Harbor Development proposal is not moving forward.

Today in Georgetown, the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to shut the project down.

Rosemary Turcol whose partner is a member of the Nanticoke Tribe, a group that's voiced their opposition to the development, said she couldn't be happier with the decision. 

"We have fought very hard to to bring our opposition to this proposed development. Sussex County development has gotten ridiculous," Turcol said.

The Stillwater Harbor Developers proposed to the planning and zoning commission to turn 57 acres of land into 123 family lots in Oak Orchard and for some landowners in the area they were not for this idea from the beginning.

Robert G. Draine Sr who owns land right where the developers were trying to get easements for the project said he refused to sell his land. 

"In November, a representative from the Stillwater Development approached me with an offer of $200,000 to sell him an access, egress from his proposed development to Chief Road and I declined the offer," Draine said.

The commission cited numerous concerns about the Stillwater proposal, including flooding and maintaining the wetlands.

One member of the planning and zoning Commission Kim Hoey Stevenson said she felt from her own experience in the area that developing that particular land would not be feasible. 

"I've stood in that water, I know how bad it is, so yea this is one of those places where if we were to allow this as it's written, someday somebody is going to say who let that happen," Stevenson said.

For the community in Oak Orchard and the history of the Nanticoke people, this decision for them is an all around win.

The Nanticoke tribe are elated just as much as I am because that is the community in which they live," Draine said. "It's the community and land that has been in their family for 200 years," he said.

The decision made today by the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission is final but the developers can appeal this decision as the law allows.

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